With the sudden death of veteran journalist Michael Hartnack at the age of 60, Zimbabwe has lost a professional committed to chronicling national events fairly and in historical context, just when the country sorely needs such dedication. In recent years, as a correspondent for Associated Press, The Times, Deutsche Welle and South African newspapers, Michael reached a wide audience with dispatches of Zimbabwe's economic decline and erosion of law - but above all, its humanity.

Throughout the 1970s he wrote of Rhodesia's oppression under Ian Smith. Michael had a passion for history and a delight in sharing his knowledge. "All questions historical and hysterical answered here," was typical of the notes posted on the door of his Harare office. As a journalist new to Zimbabwe, I often knocked on that door. He always found time to assist me and others.

Born in Barotseland, in what is now Zambia, Michael came from a family of journalists. He always said that journalism, in his case, was "not so much a profession as an inherited genetic disorder". He went to England in 1956 to attend Hastings grammar school in Sussex. From there, at the age of 18 he went straight to the Cambridge Evening News. In 1966 he returned to Africa and joined the Rhodesia Herald, concentrating on reporting on courts and municipal affairs.

Through his membership of the Rhodesian Guild of Journalists he waged an unsuccessful battle with management for black reporters to receive pay equal to that of their white colleagues. He was president of the journalists' union from 1976 to 1980. Michael produced reliable reports of events through the power cuts, water cuts, fuel queues and other hassles that have become part of daily life in Zimbabwe.

The trials and turmoils of Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe inspired in him an enduring love for the country. His weekly columns in South African newspapers, including the Natal Witness, Eastern Province Herald, Cape Times and Daily Dispatch provided a unique, personal chronicle of Zimbabwe's growing troubles and won him a loyal readership.

The quality of his journalism was recognised in 2003 when Michael was awarded an honorary doctorate from South Africa's Rhodes University, which cited his working life "in service of the truth and the vision of a just and non-racial Zimbabwe, displaying courage and integrity".

Michael's last column, written on July 24, was an account of the funeral of Andrew Kanyowa, aged 79, with whom he had worked as a court reporter on the Rhodesia Herald 40 years ago. Michael was attending a show of Zimbabwean art that is a high point of Harare's cultural calendar and enjoying a glass of wine with colleagues when he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered.

He is survived by Anne, his wife of 33 years, sons Richard and Andrew, and daughter Jennifer.

· Michael Hartnack, journalist, born October 17 1945; died August 2 2006.